Liskeard and Caradon Railway - Extensions and Locomotives

Extensions and Locomotives

The Liskeard and Looe Union Canal company (LLUC) responded to the volumes of traffic by building a railway closely paralleling the canal itself, and extending to the quays at Looe; their railway opened to mineral traffic on 27 December 1860, forming a direct connection with the L&CR at Moorswater. For the time being the railway, usually referred to as the Liskeard and Looe Railway, was wholly owned by the Canal Company. They hired a locomotive, Liskeard but they used L&CR wagons. At last the transshipment at Moorswater was eliminated.

The L&CR had applied its attention to the need for connecting the new mines, and obtained an Act of Parliament on 15 May 1860, authorising additional share capital of £12,000; the stated purposes were the construction of a Tokenbury branch, the building of a new line by-passing the Gonamena inclined plane, the acquisition of the Kilmar railway, and several local improvements to the existing lines. The L&CR evidently saw their sphere of influence as extending from Caradon to the sea at Looe, for the Act also authorised the L&CR "to arrange with the Commissioners of Looe Harbour, with respect to laying down of rails at, and the use of, the works of the Commissioners. Not all of these powers were exercised.

Work quickly started on the branch to Tokenbury; this ran south and east from the South Caradon terminal, over a high embankment near there; it was opened by May 1861 at the latest, and an extension at Tokenbury to the East Caradon dressing floor nearby was opened too. The earthworks for the line to by-pass Gonamena were started, to the west of the Gonamena line near Ponton's Piece, and abutments for a bridge were constructed, but this deviation was never completed. (The embankment is shown on modern 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey maps.)

The L&CR observed that the locomotive Liskeard was operating successfully on the Looe line, and the L&CR ordered a locomotive of their own from Gilkes, Wilson and Company; it was delivered in about August 1862: it was an 0-6-0ST, named Caradon. On the original main line, many of the road crossings were level crossings and the authorising Act had forbidden locomotives from crossing the turnpike roads: a £50 penalty was specified. It appears that the company may have violated the law for a period; most of the level crossings were replaced by bridge crossings in due course. In 1864 a third engine, Cheesewring, was acquired.

The reality now was that the overwhelmingly dominant traffic was throughout between mines and quarries on Caradon and the harbour at Looe, and in March 1862 a Joint Committee was formed between the L&CR (three members) and the LLUC (two members); it was agreed that the L&CR would work all the rail-borne traffic, purchasing the LLUC's locomotive Liskeard for £600, and setting tolls for carriage throughout between the mines and quarries and Looe Harbour.

Copper ore carried on the railways reached 27,000 tons in 1863, but this proved to be a peak and gentle decline followed. Coal carryings peaked at 22,000 tons as the mines went deeper and pumping became dominant.

Bodman (page 87) says that: "A narrow gauge tramway on an inclined plane was constructed to link Phoenix United with West Phoenix mine some time after 1870. It burrowed under the Kilmar Railway and near its summit ran in cutting, terminating near Stowe's Shaft. The plane was probably self-acting, taking ore down to Phoenix United for processing. Its total length was 1,230 feet (375 m)." The reference to West Phoenix is ambiguous, but here it means Stowe's Shaft near Cheesewring. Gamble defines it as "Stowe's section, also referred to as West Phoenix Shaft. West Phoenix Mine proper was further west again (south of Witheybrook Marsh)".